Commitments and Consequences

Chapter 2: Feel

"You know them? How so?" Rossi pressed but it was obvious immediately that any answer was difficult for the young genius to share, avoiding eye contact and especially trying not to dwell on the profiles on the screen.

Eventually Spencer managed to say "uh, Hotch, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" avoiding looking at anyone.

The whole team grew concerned the less the young man felt comfortable speaking but realising it must be important Hotch agreed and instructed the team to look over the files while he spoke to Spencer in another room. As they left the room the team spent several moments just trying to figure out what the hell happened and a worried glance was shared between Derek and JJ, the two closest to the young genius and since neither knew what was going on in the slightest that only made them all the more worried.

Garcia collected a laptop and sat with the team, quietly letting them watch the security feed on her screen as though it wasn't snooping, it showed Hotch and Spencer sat in one of the interview rooms and from the body language alone they could see Spencer was embarrassed and feeling lost. Despite the lack of sound it didn't take a profiler to see the young man looked distraught.

"What do you think is going on?" JJ opened out to the group, also revealing she was just as clueless as the rest of them.

"No idea, but if they're friends of Spencer's that's the last thing he needs" Blake said sympathetically.

As Morgan pretended to flip through the files like everyone else he watched the screen most of all, concern growing with every passing moment, his boy genius clearly upset and even looked scared. His heart beat a little faster and wished he knew what was going on, if there was any way to help and especially try to make whatever was going on easier. Since losing Maeve the team couldn't deny just how unlucky the guy seemed, which he wholly and completely didn't deserve.

"Hotch...I..."

"Why are you so nervous? If it's relevant to this case it's important I know about it...and you can tell me anything" Hotch said in a balance of seriousness and comfort that he had a way of doing.

"I know, it's just..." looking to the men in the file he held in his shaky hands as he knew he couldn't let their murders go unsolved and to the best of his ability he had to find their killer and so he summoned a little bravery. "It was just a very private part of my life and...I can't believe they're dead..."

Taking in a deep breath Hotch tried to remain as understanding as possible about how awkward the young agent clearly felt, "if you know anything that connects them it may be detrimental to the case, the killer didn't leave any fingerprints and no one spotted him, whatever the connection it could be just what we need to get justice for these men."

"...I slept with them" Spencer spoke so quietly his boss almost missed it and the younger man avoided eye contact as the information sank in.

Hotch couldn't fully contain his surprise, but then it would be disingenuous to, but he quickly caught himself and appreciated that sharing such a truth was a hard thing to do, especially for someone as private as Spencer. Doing his best to push the million questions that flooded his brain at such a revelation he paused, actively having to clear his mind to focus on the task at hand "okay...did they know each other?"

Sighing Spencer knew Aaron wanted to just question him about all the details, not for gossip but just in surprise, like some sighting that no one would believe without proof, Spencer's sex life was like some fucked up unicorn and the young agent didn't know whether to laugh or cry over the strange contextualisation. But he had asked to speak to Hotch for just that reason, he would focus no matter the topic or distraction and so Reid did the same. Thinking over the names in the file he did his best to answer "Lee knew Cassidy, roommates in college I think, otherwise no. Nick spent most of his time working and chasing promotions and William's was only here a couple months from Ireland, has a sick sibling he cared for and rarely had a night off."